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Re

Re

re-

1.

a prefix, occurring originally in loanwords from Latin, used with the meaning “again” or “again and again” to indicate repetition, or with the meaning “back” or “backward” to indicate withdrawal or backward motion:

re1

re2

/riː/

preposition

1.

with reference to

Usage note

Re, in contexts such as re your letter, your remarks have been noted or he spoke to me re your complaint, is common in business or official correspondence. In general English with reference to is preferable in the former case and about or concerning in the latter. Even in business correspondence, the use of re is often restricted to the letter heading

re-

Verbs beginning with re- indicate repetition or restoration. It is unnecessary to add an adverb such as back or again: This must not occur again (not recur again); we recounted the votes (not recounted the votes again, which implies that the votes were counted three times, not twice)

"with reference to," used from c.1700 in legalese, from Latin (in) re "in the matter of," from ablative case of res "matter, thing." Its use is execrated by Fowler in three different sections of "Modern English Usage."

re-

word-forming element meaning "back to the original place; again, anew, once more," also with a sense of "undoing," c.1200, from Old French and directly from Latin re- "again, back, anew, against," "Latin combining form concievably from Indo-European *wret-, metathetical variant of *wert- "to turn" [Watkins]. Often merely intensive, and in many of the older borrowings from French and Latin the precise sense of re- is lost in secondary senses or weakened beyond recognition. OED writes that it is "impossible to attempt a complete record of all the forms resulting from its use," and adds that "The number of these is practically infinite ...." The Latin prefix became red- before vowels and h-, e.g. redact, redeem, redolent, redundant.